Battle Without Honor or Humanity
by KatxEona
Summary: Alternate ending to Eona...I like to think it's reminiscent to Carrie, actually. Rated M for blood, gore, and violence. And anger and sadness.


**Author's Note: This is an alternate ending to the book **_**Eona.**_** I hated it. But if this had been the ending, I would not only love it, it would probably be one of my favorite books ever. I would read it over and over, buy it, celebrate it, and proudly display it on my bookshelf. Sadly though, this wasn't the ending. But it's one of my personal endings, and it was a joy to write. This is one of my 'fix-it' fics because I had so many problems with the book that I wanted to fix.**

**The title "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" comes from a song by Tomoyasu Hotei which was played in the **_**Kill Bill**_** movie, and tons of other things as well. I thought it fit perfectly for what I was writing, I imagined the song playing throughout most of what's going on in here, and let's face it: Honor is the most overrated shit in the world (at least the way it's presented in this book). Plus, I imagine Eona as being played by Chiaki Kuriyama.**

**Warning: If you liked the book in any way, or you looooved the side characters (i.e. Lady Diva and Psycho) you **_**will**_** be utterly offended by this story. I warned you.**

**Rated M for blood, gore, and violence.**

"You've restored Ryko's faith in you," Dela said softly.

Eona side-eyed Dela and then slowly turned her head. They were both sitting down together inside the tent, close enough to touch. Eona did not need Ryko's 'faith' in her, nor did she want it any longer. Dela continued to smile at her, though her eyes began to change, becoming uncomfortable, knowing something was wrong.

"I'm not exactly inclined to welcome your faith in me when the last time you put it in me, it was to save that imbecile you call 'honorable.' Who then proceeded to rip my family away from me, the little bit I had left. Just because he watched his die in front of him, doesn't give him the right to do it to me," Eona said.

Dela's mouth dropped and her eyes widened. The color seemed to drain from her face. "Eona," she said, aghast, "How could you even _think_ that, much less say that?" She reached out and touched Eona on the arm.

Eona stood up, ripping herself away from Dela's touch. Dela looked up at her, her eyes pleading.

"We have always been on your side. Always."

One corner of Eona's mouth involuntarily turned upward. She held back but at that moment, she could've laughed at what Dela had just said. Memories of the past days came bombarding her at once like a beating headache…

"_He is dying because of you. You owe him your life and your power. DON'T FAIL HIM AGAIN."_

"_Thirty-six people."_

"_I hope you are worth this cause, because so far you have done more harm than good. Part of me was hoping you would not wake up."_

"_Is all you ever think about yourself?"_

"_No, emperor, she is a liar. Do not choose her as your Naiso. She cannot be trusted."_

"_YOU owe me."_

"_You are breaking his spirit."_

"_Eona, stop it! You're killing Ryko!"_

"_Stupid girl."_

"_I'm getting concerned about your close connection with Ido."_

"…_for your own selfish reasons?"_

"_When you were Eon…"_

"_You've become a lot more like Ido."_

"_He has not only gotten in your mind, but he has gotten inside of your body as well."_

"_Is this how you're going to solve everything from now on?"_

"_You always have a reason."_

Eona slapped Dela across the face so hard, Dela fell backward and tumbled to the ground. She stared back up at Eona with shocked eyes, holding her hand to her cheek, speechless. Eona took this opportunity to turn on her heel and leave the tent, fists balled by her sides. She left Dela with one last scathing glare before exiting.

She marched out and made her way around the camp, tracing the route toward the tent where Ido was being held prisoner. Surprisingly, she slipped inside without anyone noticing. Ido glanced up in surprise, then smiled as if he were expecting her. "My Lady," he said, "what brings you here?"

"Shh. The last thing we need is that big babbling buffoon barging in and attacking me again."

"You mean the Islander."

"Yes. Ryko."

"Ryko is a coward," Ido said calmly, as though he were saying the sky was blue. "He beats up on women. And he needed a twelve-year old boy to validate his existence."

"Ryko is many things. He is an animal and a predator. He is an embarrassment and a disgrace. But mostly he's just a weakling, a coward, and a fool." Her voice lowered to a growl. "I should've never saved that whoreson's life," Eona whispered. "I should've let his mistress have it when she was guilting me into using my power."

"And what _of_ his mistress?" Ido asked. "Lady…Lady…Lady who?"

"Dela." She said the name as if it were poison rolling off her tongue. "She is a fraud. She claims to care about women, yet she aligns herself with a man who hates women. They are both born, breathing, contradictions. She has never known the true struggles as a woman because she got to have everything she wanted growing up. She never had to hide in fear for her life like _I _have. And she doesn't realize that there is more to being a woman than just pretty dresses and long nails."

"Indeed," Ido said. "I always wondered where they dug her up to be a 'mentor'," he said with a snicker. "Was she the best they could do?"

"Apparently so." She paused and the two of them stared at each other for a few seconds. The space between them was too narrow, crackling with energy. It felt uncomfortably intimate already.

"Lady Eona," Ido said, "did you come here so that we could…make use of our combined dragon powers again?"

"No." His face fell in disappointment, and Eona knelt down in front of him, hands on her knees. She looked deep into his eyes. "I came here to confide my plan in you." She took one of her swords and cut away the rope binding his wrists. "I want to show them what corruption _really_ is, since they think they already know."

He stood up immediately, a smile splitting across his face. "I am sure I will like this." He was about to say something else when he was cut off by Eona's sword, held up against his neck.

"You will do what I say," she said, "when I say it. Is that understood?"

Unfazed, Ido said, "Why don't you just compel me, my Lady, rather than deliver empty threats?"

"Because the other two self-proclaimed victims might feel it."

Ido frowned. "_I_ am no victim," he said indignantly.

"No, you are not, but you've always known that. Others have lived their entire lives as victims, or as the victim _role_, so they can continually get away with their aggressions." She circled around Ido, behind him now, and reached an arm around his chest, locking him in place. She used her other to lay her sword across his neck. "Similarly, and shamefully, I have also been living as a victim. A victim to their endless schemes and trickery and deceit. How they would pretend to my friends one minute, only to use my back to step on the next. So they could pretend to be the innocent little victims," she growled. "I'm not going to live my life like that anymore. I cannot. I tried to do good, but all it does is make them more and more entitled, and causes me more and more pain."

"Your day of reckoning is here."

"I knew trusting people was wrong…I knew caring about people could only cause pain and make me vulnerable." Taking a deep breath, Eona then launched into full detail the plan she had in mind, repeatedly emphasizing that Ido was not to come out of the tent until it was certain that Eona had reached her dragon power. That was the first part of the plan. But the second part was when things would really pick up.

Ido was silent for several moments afterwards, and Eona was almost afraid he would reject the plan, though she could not see why when he was always thrilled with the prospect of anything involving power. "They sure like to cry a lot," he finally said, nodding and staring at the tent entry, as if staring hard enough at the fabric would ensure he was glaring through it, to the people outside. He turned to her. "Let's set the world on fire. Let's give them something to cry _about_," he whispered.

Relief, gratitude, and excitement swam through Eona and she tucked her sword back in its hilt behind her. "Done." She paused. "Afterwards, if there are still people standing, everyone is up for grabs. Everyone, EXCEPT Lillia and Rilla…Rilla was always kind to me. And Lillia…she is my mother."

"But was she kind to you?"

"No…not particularly. I know it is not rational. But I still just cannot find it in myself to punish her."

"And what of Ryko and Dela? Would you like me to take care of them?"

"No," she said harsher than she'd intended. _You absolutely may not._ "Leave them to me. You can have anybody else. But Ryko and Dela…_they are mine_."

As Eona turned away, Ido put his hand out and stopped her for one last second. "Eona. Just remember the bereaving dragons…don't block them this time. Don't block them at all."

She nodded and found a spot on the ground to crouch down on. She was not going anywhere outside of the tent to avoid any guards and prevent suspicion from arising. It always rose peoples' concerns to near-panic attacks when she so much as looked at him or wanted to give him food. May the gods forbid she want the one person who could train her to actually be nourished.

She felt herself swimming in the energy world, seeing the Mirror Dragon at the far east, its red body making it stand out brightly among the rest. Eona called to her, the Queen of the Heavens, and smelled the familiar cinnamon and vanilla orange as she connected with her dragon. Beneath her now, she could see their camp, tons of little dots flitting around representing their troops and citizens. Eona decided to heal herself, though there was nothing to heal. It took much energy and dragon power to do so.

And this time, she wasn't going to block the other dragons.

Focusing on a specific part of herself, much like she did with Ryko in the fisher village, Eona put all of her focus, power, and energy into one singular command: _heal._ The bereft dragons would come now, raining down destruction and violence on the entire camp. It had already begun. As she felt herself healing nonexistent wounds and cuts and scars and deformities and whatever else could possibly ever be healed, the storm was brewing, and dark clouds and wind were already blowing in towards the camp. She witnessed tents collapsing, the frantic movement of dots as people were now scattering about the camp, lights flashing here and there as the storm raged forward, out of nowhere. A fire caught on one of the tent flaps and set the whole tent ablaze, and their own tent flew off the ground now, exposing Eona and Ido to the outside world. As this was happening, she kept getting pulled in and out of the dragon world, being jerked around even more violently than when she had healed Ryko. But she did her best to hang on as much as possible, and let the other dragons do their grim deeds.

Eona was yanked out one again when she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder. "I will take it from here, my Lady," Ido said, bowing before her and then getting on his knees right beside her, closing his eyes. She could tell he was reaching deep within his powers to keep the storm going.

Eona reached back and wrapped her hand around Kinra's sword at her back. Pulling it out, she brought it around in front of her and gazed at her reflection in the sword. She did the same with Charra's sword. In them, she could see her eyes had dilated and now the pupils took over—her eyes looked completely black. Ready to hunt.

"Dela…" she whispered to it. "Ryko. Kygo. Chart. I know you're out here." She took a deep breath. "And I will find you."

Walking through the chaos and destruction was one of the most freeing, liberating experiences of her life, almost as much as connecting with her dragon. She felt herself moving in slow motion and walking with a purpose as debris flew around her and the winds picked up almost everything in their path. She felt the way Ido must've felt when they'd freed him from prison and he was healed and whole again, and led them through the palace area, destroying everything in his path at the light swish of his hand, the surreal and mesmerizing and haunting feeling of immense power that so few people got to experience.

She felt like a Dragoneye.

"_Help me save this boat, like a true Dragoneye,"_ Ido had said. She'd thought she was doing something good. She was. And she'd expected nothing in return for it. Nothing but respect, anyway.

She certainly hadn't expected to be pummeled up against a wall with a man twice her size breathing down her neck like he was half-animal.

She came to a halt and spotted two people on either side of her—Ryko to her left, Chart to her right—both staring at her with bulging eyes. Not a word passed between any of them for the full five seconds the three of them stood there, in a triangle amongst the raging storm. But she knew that they knew—that she was the one responsible for all of this. And she was not sorry about it anymore. She was in total control.

Just when Ryko opened his mouth to say something, Eona lifted her swords and pointed them each in opposite directions. Kinra's sword faced Ryko while Charra's sword pointed at Chart. He tensed, waiting for the blow. Eona seized control of each of their heart beats, like a fist clenching down on a stone. Both Ryko and Chart clenched their teeth, grunting in pain, trying to fight against it. They should've known better by now.

Bringing her two swords together, Eona compelled both of them to run towards each other…

_SLAM!_ Ryko and Chart smashed heads, so hard she could swear she heard their skulls crack even amongst all the thunder and rain and wind. They fell down in pain and shock, and Eona released her hold on them. Swords back down by her sides again, she walked between them, not looking once at either Ryko or Chart, panting and coughing.

She continued to walk through the destroyed camp, the storm above her still raging, passing by the carcasses of fallen men from the Eastern Tribes. Many of them cheered and cheered when she had to burn Ido. In front of everyone. She did not feel sorry for them one bit. They all participated in the torture and humiliation of one man. It was not up to anyone here to decide right and wrong.

In the midst of the rain, she spotted a young woman about her age running towards her, closer and closer until she recognized her as Vida. Her hair had become undone, wet and sticking to her face, water dripping everywhere on her.

"How could you do this? Why are you doing this, Lady Eona?" Her hands were gripping her robe and holding onto it tightly as she snuggled into it, as if it were the only thing to shield her from the inflicting chaos and destruction going on around her. She kept lifting her head to glance around in sheer horror, as if her robe was the protective shell of a turtle that occasionally chanced a glance out of but could easily burrow back in if there was danger. She looked back at Eona, as if she were a ghost. She seemed to look right through her, as if Eona were a stranger, as if she had never seen Eona before.

Why was she surprised? Wasn't she the first one to brand Eona a killer when Dela took Eona's will and forced her to use her powers in the village?

_If you thought that was bad, you haven't seen ANYTHING yet, _Eona thought.

Eona glanced over at the spot in the distance where she'd left Ido kneeling down, connecting with his dragon. It was vacant now, nothing but panicked and screaming people running around over the space. She didn't know where he'd gone, or maybe been dragged off to. Either way, it didn't matter. The damage was done. They'd ripped apart the camp.

Hearing Vida's yells that she'd momentarily tuned out, Eona tuned back in and returned her gaze to Vida. She was now screaming and shrieking. "What is this?" she cried in terror, tears running down her cheeks. "_What IS this? _What are you trying to do, Lady Eona?"

Eona felt it strange that Vida sometimes called her 'Lady' or addressed her as someone of higher ranking. Because despite the fact that Eona _was_ of higher ranking—to almost everyone—none of them ever treated her like it. Not that she'd ever been interested. She'd only been interested in being treated like a human. But they couldn't be bothered to even do that. Perhaps Vida knew she was higher, which was why she'd waited until it was just her and Eona in the privacy of the back of the carriage to dig her claws into Eona's flesh and wish ill will on her for something Dela, her mentor, had done.

"You were all out to get me," Eona said slowly. "And now I'm out to get _you._" Eona looked straight into Vida's wide, horrified eyes. "_Now_, you can say I'm a murderer."

Before she had a chance to take care of Vida herself, Ido came into view, riding on a horse, swinging his sword out—and Vida's head went flying, sliced clean off, nothing but a bloody stump in its place. Her body fell, limp and already whiter now than it had been two seconds ago.

Ido looked down at Eona from his horse, his sword covered in blood now, his mouth a firm line. But behind it, she could sense a tone of triumph. "One down," he said flatly. "Five more to go."

Before she could ponder on who the other five were that Ido had in mind, Eona heard a startled cry behind her. She turned and saw Chart, face wrecked with tears and blood and shaking with fear. He ducked a flying piece of wreckage from a tent and scuttled over to one that miraculously was still intact on the ground, though being ripped by the wind aggressively and would surely come apart any minute now. "Eona!" he cried. "What are you doing?"

She looked at him like he was a cockroach. Which in some ways, he was. _You're right, Chart—you were so much better when you were crippled. Now that you're healed, you've lost your personality and your charm and all of your good qualities. _"You…you were supposed to be my friend," she said, not loud enough over the din of storm and destruction.

"What?!" he shouted, confusion, interest, and frustration now lighting up the terror in his eyes.

"You were supposed to be my friend," she repeated louder, "you were supposed to be my friend. _YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE MY FRIEND!_" With her blood racing through her body, she reached out to his will and pounced on it. Chart screamed and stumbled backwards so fast, he could never have done it voluntarily. He practically flew, feet dragging along the ground, as though possessed. His back slammed down on the ground right near the edge of a rocky hill where an unsteady group of sticks, boulders, and other debris lay in ominous wait. Ready to roll down the slope and crush whoever happened to be lying there.

Try as he might, Chart could not get up. Beads of sweat were working up on his face and he hissed and drooled and gritted his teeth. It was as if an invisible magnetic force was keeping him down, face and chest up, completely exposed to the environment and incapable of so much as sitting up, let alone standing. His legs were moving around a little too easily, like those of a centipede, ready to kick out at whoever came near. Eona pressed down mentally on his will and now his legs slammed down on the ground too, unable to move. He was not able to speak now either—she made him hold his tongue, and the only noises coming from him were hissing and ragged breathing.

He'd said enough already. They all had.

While he was pinned on the ground, Eona slowly and leisurely walked over toward him, practically spitting the words out. "_Now,_ you can say I took your choice. _Now,_ you can no longer call yourself a free man. And _now,_ and only now, can you mourn over the loss of your precious Eon. Because Eon is dead. He died a long time ago."

The rocks loosened a little more and with the deep rumbling sound of them grinding against the ground, they finally lost their hold. They came tearing down in a storm of rocks and boulders, some with sharp ragged edges, some weighing a ton. Keeping her compulsion on him, Chart let out a bloodcurdling shriek and it was cut off abruptly as they rocks landed on him, his body being crushed and buried completely.

_Such a shame, _she thought. _Right after you'd gained a wonderful new body, too._

In the distance, she could see Dela's father and Rilla huddled under a useless tent that only had one corner intact. The rest was ready to fly away. She would not harm them, since Dela's father had never done her harm, and Rilla was one of the few who'd ever shown her kindness.

But shame on them for bringing such foul pieces of filth into the world.

"Eona!" Eona turned and saw Dela racing toward her, her face strained in agony. "Eona…" Most of the loud destruction had died down now, and the wind had slowed. But it was still raining and thundering and people were scarce where they both stood. Cries could be heard in the distance. She imagined any survivor was either hiding underneath rubble or running around, desperately trying to find their companions.

Eona stepped toward Dela, almost bridging the gap between them, staring her down.

Dela stared back, wide-eyed, looking as if she were seeing a ghost. She took a step back. "Eona, please!" Dela cried. "You're angry and you're not thinking clearly right now. I'm on your side. I'm your advisor—I'm your friend."

Eona snorted. _"Friend._ If you're a friend, then I'm a dragon." Putting both swords in one hand, she sauntered casually over to Dela, as if they were in a field having a conversation about the weather. Weather that was far more peaceful than this.

Stepping even closer now, so that she was only an inch away from Dela's face, at the top of her lungs Eona shouted, "You have never been my friend! You were EON'S friend!"

Suddenly Eona lashed out and struck Dela right in the mouth so hard, the _crack! _of the blow sounded like it sent sparks through the air. Dela fell to the ground, her lip already starting to swell up.

Standing over her, feet apart, one foot on each side of Dela's crumpled and shaking body, Eona kneeled down, planting her knees to the ground. "No matter how many times I save your sorry selves…no matter how much I sacrifice, _you just won't let me up for any air."_

Eona leaned down to Dela's ear, the sides of their faces touching, no longer able to see her. But she could hear Dela's quiet little sobs pierce her own ear. There was once a time when it would've pierced her heart too, but that was when Dela had thought Eona was Eon. That was when everybody thought Eon was their great savior. That was the first installment of her life—gone, never forgotten, and to be followed up by everybody's disappointment that she'd let it go and embraced her femininity.

She breathed heavily in Dela's ear and whispered, "You know what Dela? I _never_ owed you or your dog a damn thing. And _now_…_NOW_ you can claim someone is 'dying because of me.'" Then she sat up real fast, drew her sword, and slashed it across Dela's neck, blood spraying up into Eona's face. So much blood, it blinded her. The blood went into her eyes, her nose, her ears, and her mouth. She could taste Dela's blood on her lips and on her teeth. She could feel the thickness of it in her hair. Leaning her head upward and gazing up at the sky with dead, dull, lifeless eyes, Eona let the blood continue to soak her, now covering her neck in deep crimson liquid. When the last of it marked her, she stayed perfectly still for a few seconds after, letting what she did soak in, physically and mentally.

Both felt great. She felt a huge sense of release, letting out a long slow breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, along with all the tension in her bones and muscles. Time seemed to slow and she felt herself calm. In fact, she began to feel a new peace. A new kind of power. One that didn't involve dragon magic or status or lies.

The power of fighting back.

The power of meeting their challenge, just when they'd thought they'd weakened her down to the bone.

She turned her head, panting heavily, and realized she was still holding her sword out, away from her, dripping with blood. With a swish, she turned it downward and stood up, kicking at Dela's corpse, and then stepping over it. Sword gripped tightly in her hand, she knew her work was not finished yet. _'One down. Five more to go,' _Ido had said. So far, Vida, Chart, and Dela had been taken care of. Who was next?

Dripping with blood nearly from head to toe, she knew she was not recognizable anymore. And neither was he, standing in front of her now, face contorted in pain and horror.

He'd always looked at her with betrayed shock, sheer fear, or scathing disgust. At his nicest moments, he might look at her with mere annoyance or scoffing amusement. Or perhaps hope, hope that she would tolerate his brutal treatment and still push on with them anyway, because they needed her. They needed her.

They needed her like a drought needed rain.

She'd never needed them. She'd made her choice and disguised herself and trained and worked hard, without their help.

_They'd _needed _her_, and she'd selflessly made herself available for their cause. And this was how they repaid her generosity and sacrifices?

Right now, he was looking at her with such a still expression, he could've been a statue. His eyebrows were narrowed and bunched up in a furiously horrified scowl, and his eyes were wide, jumping back and forth from Dela's body to Eona. His mouth hung open with his lips slightly curled back, showing a little of his teeth, as if trying to get sound out but none coming at all. _Speechless, _Eona thought with subtle sense of satisfaction. _This is certainly unusual for him. Possibly a first._

He always liked to pick on people who were smaller than him. Smaller, weaker, more defenseless. He took great pride in bullying others and covering it up under the false exterior of 'honor.' _Honor, _Eona thought with disgust. _As if that word still holds meaning after being demolished by the likes of him. _Honor would never be restored. Honor would never touch this land again.

His eyebrows lifted a little as his eyes rested permanently on Eona now, looking as if he were staring at a stranger, as if this was his first time seeing her. As if she had turned into someone else completely.

But hadn't she already?

'_You're becoming a lot more like Ido_,' and everything else he'd accused her of had fit his personal narrative at the time. So why now, when she was finally embodying and fitting the image he'd drawn of her to everyone, was he unprepared to face up to it?

Perhaps now he was finally seeing how wrong he had been before, how right he was now. NOW.

He started to shake his head and she could've sworn she saw a quivering glint in his eye. She realized a slow smile was forming on her own face, like an excited child getting ready to play their favorite game, or a game they'd never played before. He thought he could tame her, correct her, _fix _her, when ironically, she hadn't needed any fixing before. But now she did, due to what he'd done. He'd created the very thing he'd been trying so hard to prevent. In trying to keep Eon, his friend, his buddy, his companion, he'd failed. Because he'd tried to kill Eona in order to save Eon. And Eona refused to die.

Whatever Ryko had been thinking of at that moment, whatever he'd wanted to do, he didn't get the chance—for with her free hand, Eona reached out and splayed her fingers wide apart. At which point, Ryko fell to the ground on his knees. She could hear the hard bone in his knees hit the ground. Eona then closed her hand and clenched her fist, as if squeezing on his heart. His eyes were wide, much like they were the second time she'd compelled him outside of the inn, right after they had regrouped with Kygo. And he'd wanted to make her his Naiso… _Kygo. _How could she ever have been in love with that man? But no worries…she'd deal with him later. Right now she had Ryko's face to the ground, where it belonged. Like the dog that he was. _"It's better than being a dog waiting to get whipped next." _He wanted to die? He got it. But that didn't mean the Mirror Dragoneye couldn't have a little fun with him first. He was just so easy to…play around with.

With the smile now etched on her face, Eona dropped her hand but did not release her hold on Ryko. Instead, keeping him on the ground, facedown, she sauntered over and knelt down in front of him, hearing his raspy breaths. She reached out, gripped the back of his head, and pushed it down on the ground. He let out a protesting groan but could do nothing more. She pressed it down hard and grinded it against the ground, hoping he could taste the dirt, hoping he was eating it. Hoping it got into his eyes and nose and ears. At last she pulled his head back, his face level with hers, staring into each other's eyes. She let go of her hold on him enough to let him speak. She wanted to hear this. It would be so amusing. And it would be his last words, so he'd better make them count.

But again, all Ryko could do was stare and pant, and Eona noticed something else in his eyes now, something that almost dulled everything else. Sadness. She felt a tinge of sadness prick at her own eyes for a split-second, then remembered: _He is sad he lost his friend, Eon. Not Eona…Eon._ He was never Eona's friend, no matter how much she did for him. And what needed to be done, must be done.

She took her sword and sunk it right through his stomach. Standing up, she held it there and kept her eyes fixed on Ryko's now pained, speechless, soundless face, save for a small high grunt that came out, likely involuntary. She felt all of the anger for these past several days seep through her veins, igniting her from the inside out. She wanted him to feel it too—feel everything he'd put her through.

The sweet sound of a dosage being delivered. A dosage of his own medicine.

"_Now_ you can call me a liar and a traitor." She pulled the sword out and he fell forward, the last movement his body made. She no longer had a hold on his will, because it was gone. There was nothing to have a hold on anymore.

For some reason, this wasn't enough. She kicked him around until he was facing up. Then she gripped her sword with both hands, lifted it into the air, and swung it down again and again over his back, wondering if she could drive all the anger out of her. With each passing thought, with each adrenaline surge of fury that coursed through her veins, she swung her sword down hard on his now lifeless body, feeling the hard crack of it against bone, armor, or flesh.

For betraying her when she needed a friend the most. For throwing her friendship with him away. For rejecting her kindness and swatting it right out of her hand when she offered it to him, as though she were poisonous and toxic. For dehumanizing her when all she'd wanted was forgiveness…for crimes she did not even commit.

Blood squirted up as she tore through the flesh of his stomach and ribs.

For having a better life, never having to hide his identity in fear, and always being able to be himself. For never having to suffer what she did, and being completely ignorant to her own struggles.

She could hear the heavy _whoosh _each time the sword came down.

For trivializing and dismissing and erasing and invalidating her experiences. For painting a portrait of himself the victim, herself the demon, when it was all being played backwards.

She was going faster now, hacking away at him like she was killing a threatening beast that just wouldn't die.

For hijacking her own story and manipulating the way it was told, so that people could have sympathy for the _wrong people._

A hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, stopping it in mid-air and stilling her sword, while another arm wrapped around her torso, holding her in place. The only movement coming from Eona now was breathing. She didn't need to turn or crane her head to know it was Ido. The horse he'd been using earlier walked around in front of him, looking a little shaken, but otherwise manageable.

"He is dead," Ido said.

"I thought he was my friend," Eona said, doing everything she could to keep her voice steady and to keep her eyes dry. "I'd thought they all were."

"Well, they weren't," Ido snapped. She thought if he had a rolled up piece of parchment right now, such as one of the folios, he'd probably whack her on the head with it. "And now you are rid of them and never have to worry about their abuse again." He glanced over at Dela's carcass, and then bent down to retrieve her hand. He began dragging her over toward Ryko's carcass. "These two have always wanted to be with each other. I say we finally give it to them. They deserve it, no?" He thrust Dela's body on top of Ryko's, took Eona's sword, and stabbed it through both of them. It stood up, pinning them both together, one on top of the other, on the ground. He stood back to admire his work. "Aren't they cute together?"

Eona cocked her head. "It's a nice decoration. But I need my sword." She pulled the sword out from them, stained with blood.

"We have already taken care of four out of the six."

"Who are the other two?"

"One of them is Ryko's Mama, Momo," Ido said with disgust. "I took care of her when she was seventeen…I can take care of her again." His disgust turned to a sly smile.

Eona recalled the patronizing way Momo spoke down to her about how Eona was supposedly "breaking Ryko's spirit" by first sacrificing her life to save him, and then tolerating his ungrateful nasty behavior afterwards. She couldn't say she feared for Momo. She certainly didn't sympathize for what would no doubt happen to her later.

She knew who the last person was. "And what of the emperor?"

"He got away," Ido growled, "but not for long. We'll find him. We must. We must have the pearl, especially before Sethon gets it." He paused. "This certainly seems to be quite common with him. When danger hits, _run._ That's his answer to everything, now isn't it. Coward," Ido said, curling his lip. "He's not better than his uncle. Must run through the family. Makes me wonder how they ever came to power to begin with. I suppose the people of this empire never really had high standards anyway."

"I don't know why I ever cared about this empire," Eona said numbly. She was staring off into the distance, into the silent rubble the camp had become. Only a little bit of breeze blew by her now, and the sun was coming out. It seemed so peaceful, but at the same time, she could smell death in the air. "They were the reasons why children were sold and enslaved, women and girls were persecuted, and cripples were shunned." Gritting her teeth, she took a deep breath. "They are the reasons I suffered as a child. The people I'd thought were friends…"

"Funny thing is," said Ido, walking around her in a circle, "they actually treated you like _you_ were the coward, just for hiding in plain sight."

Eona turned and glanced at him for the first time. "I was always front and center of every battle and every struggle. And these ungrateful imbeciles…" Her gestured at the corpses and her voice shook.

Ido nodded calmly. "Yes. It's too bad they could never see the faults of their actions and their prejudices." He used his sleeve to gently wipe away some of the blood on Eona's face. Ido was a ruthless man—but he was the better of two evils.

He was the only one who believed in her, who stuck by her side, and treated her like an equal.

"We must waste no more time," he said in a clipped voice. He turned toward the horse and mounted it, looking down at Eona. "All of the power, or none of the power," he said. He held out his hand.

Eona took it.


End file.
